Bonds Now Made
by TexanRose
Summary: This is a series of one-shots from the different POVs of PLL characters as they come to term with the news that Aria and Ezra have eloped. There is no A, Malcolm, Maggie, Jackie, Wesley, or Mrs. Fitzgerald. Byron and Ella are married. Aria has graduated from high school and Ezra still works there.
1. Dreamt Dreams Become Reality

**This will continue with the POV's of different characters after they have found out that Aria and Ezra have eloped. Each chapter will be artistically different. Enjoy!**

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She had been scared of what would happen when dreamt dreams became reality. She had been afraid of the day when she would be forced walk on paths not previously ventured. She had been worried about the next step, after impossibilities became possible. She had been nervous about the life she would be forced to lead. She still was. She still mourned for the unstated hopes that would never be realized, never be true.

In her heart she had known this day would come, this day of reckoning. Perhaps it was time to right wrongs and mend relationships. Perhaps. But she never thought she would think the things she was thinking of now. Softly she hummed the song played at her wedding. Was that so long ago, that life now turned on itself? Had so many years passed that it was time for history to repeat itself? She stopped humming. Breathe she told herself as her eyes filled with tears. Breathe.

It was time to open up her thoughts to the closed possibilities of the past and close her mind to the impossibilities of the future. Things had been done that could not be undone. Bonds had been made that could not easily be broken. It was too much too soon. It was too little too late. She started hum another tune. She closed her eyes and smiled. Yes, that song she would always carry close to her heart. Things changed all the time. Sometimes it was good.

This is good she reassured herself. This was more than good. This is what was desired. This is what was planned. Perhaps things had moved along faster than she was comfortable with. Maybe that was it. Maybe. She continued to hum as she looked into her mind's eye. She remembered. She could recall. She could pinpoint the moments when her life changed. She just hadn't understood it then. Black and white movies. Clothes dripping with wet rain. The smell of Chinese food out of cartons. Late night phone calls and daytime texts. Life had changed little by little, but the little changes had never registered.

She thought about a stuffed bear that used to mean so much, a lifetime of giggles and licking the brownie bowl. Those days were gone now. Did she regret it? She had to think. Yes, she did, a little, but then, she always would. She would always miss those moments of childhood. Those moments of innocents. Those summer days of child's laughter and child's sorrows. But the world she occupied wasn't a child's world anymore. It belonged to a young woman. A young woman who made her own decisions, who was so independently minded that her choices shouldn't have surprised her mother. But sometimes they did.

She took another deep breath before continuing to hum her tune. The song faded away between her lips. It was different now. Maybe it was time for her to hum another song. Had it been only a few hours ago that life had changed so drastically? Such announcements were supposed be told with joy and hopeful faith. But it was told with joy and smiles all around but also grimaces and hurtful glances. How does someone receive news like that? Can a mother ever stop loving her daughter? No. Love like that never dies.

She hummed that tune again, the one that meant so much to her. Little girl, her baby girl, all grown up and married. She had a husband. Why was it that today of all days she remembered her daughter's lullaby, the one that was sung to her on her first drive home from the hospital? Because today she had announced she was married, married to a man she truly loved. A man. While she was still a girl. But what was done cannot be undone, and bonds once tied are hard to break.

She looked around the room, a girl's room, but a girl no longer lived her. She sighed and silently said her peace. Today her daughter announced she was married. She had expected it, but not so soon. Tonight she belonged to another. But that everything was going to be fine. It had to be. Ella Montgomery sadly smiled and gently released her held breath. She closed the door to her daughter, Aria's, room. She was with her husband now, where she now belonged. Mrs. Fitz.


	2. How Much I Love YOu

"Well," said Ezra as they walked into his apartment. "This is it."

"This is it," Aria agreed as she set her bags down by the floor. "So…"

"So…I think I forgot something," said Ezra as he gathered Aria in his arms. He carried her over to the bed where he gently placed on the plush comforter.

"Ezra!" she squealed when he put her down.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Fitz," he said grinning, body bent over hers, face inches from her face.

"It's good to be home, Mr. Fitz," she responded while she drew his head closer to hers. It was the last thing either of them said for a long while.

Hours later, still in bed, they laid on their sides facing each other, memorizing each other's features, drinking in each other's presence. Wrapped in sheets, bodies aglow, they smiled.

"How do you think it went?" he asked, his smile dropping as worry crept into his eyes.

"I think it went better than it could have," she responded, her head propped up on her elbow. "I think Mike was the least shocked of all."

"Do you blame them?" he questioned. "It wasn't as if they had ever liked me in the first place."

"It sounds like you don't," she responded.

"I took their little girl away from them. And we lied to them. We've been married for two months now, and they never new. And if they do the math, they'll figure out that we were married right after you graduated."

"But they won't know, and besides, they already knew about us. They just weren't the most optimistic about our relationship."

He reached for her left hand. "At least you can wear your wedding ring now."

"There is that. But there are still so many people left to tell. Spencer, Emily, Hanna for starters." She stopped as she saw the faraway gaze in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking…it's just I have this feeling that everything's going to be okay. More than okay. We're going to be happy for a long, long time." He stroked her arm.

She looked at for a while, silently, as she absorbed his comment. "Never forget how much I love you Ezra Fitz."

"Never forget how much I love you, Aria."

"I know," she responded before giving him a kiss. For the rest of the night husband and wife didn't say anything to each other. There were some emotions that words could not express. And it was their wedding night, after all.


	3. Belonging to this House

**Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate them. Enjoy.**

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He hadn't been surprised. He had been surprised that the others had been surprised. But him, he expected the news. He had been waiting for it, listening for it. It was time for his life to change. Gone were the days of inconsequential fights, of feelings hurt, of secrets told. Well, he smiled, maybe not gone after all.

It was so strange to the door across the hall closed, shut, sealed. It was as if she never lived there. Or is if it were some memorial to a past life, a life dead to the world. It was a tomb. Fastened tightly. Locked without a key. No more music, no more laughter, nor more living coming from that room. No more. Would it be left as is? Forever to remain the same? But surely Aria would come for her things. Wouldn't she?

The bathroom would have no more girly products, no more Aria-scented perfumes and lotions. No blow-dryers or curling irons or strengtheners. No more hair dye staining the sink and dripping into the trashcan. She wouldn't leave her robe on the door and her slippers by the shower. The bathroom would not be Aria's domain any longer. Because she was gone.

Gone but not gone. Here but not here. She would always have a presence in this house. Whether or not she would always be welcome in this house would remain to be seen. She had dared to do the impossible. She had aspired to do the unbelievable. Little Aria, a wife. What wife would she be? What person would she be now? Now, that she had a husband?

Not Ms. Montgomery any longer. She had given up her name. Would she give up her past now also? Now that she was a wife. Now that she belonged to someone else. But what were these thoughts of belonging and not belonging. She would always belong to this house. It's where she was brought for the first time after the hospital and her mother's womb. It's where her memories were before she had had the chance to make new memories. New dreams. New thoughts. She would always belong to this family. Somebody else just belonged with her. To her. They belonged to each other because that's where their heart's were.

Now Mrs. Fitz. Mrs. Fitz. That sounded so old. Grown-up old. But Aria wasn't grown up, she was still a teenager, a youth, a girl. But she was an adult. Married. Husband. Family. Those words sounded so foreign, so frightful. So new. But sometimes new is good. This kind of new was good. It was time to be moving on. No more suffering the faults of the past. It was time to move forward to the unstated perfections of the future. Time, is such a fickle thing. The time of a person's life was not always measured by years and experiences. Sometimes it was measured by emotions and actions.

He sighed. Was he surprised as this turn of events? No. Was he happy for Aria? He wasn't sure. He was happy she was happy. Did that count for something? Did he wish the couple well? He didn't wish them any harm. He didn't wish them sorrow or sadness, pain or suffering. Yet, somehow, in his heart, he understood those things would come to them as they came to all people.

He sighed as he looked at Aria's shut door from the place on his bed. Over the top of his socks he could see, in his mind's eye, the yellow walls, the bed with the maroon comforter, the books scattered all over the room. He could even picture the clothes in her closet. He laughed at himself. She would be laughing at him too. Who knew that he would ever feel this way about his sister?

Mike Montgomery sadly smiled, murmured a silent congratulations to the couple. He hoped his sister had chosen well. She was happier today than he had ever seen her, standing beside her new husband, announcing what had happened to their parents. He hoped that her life would be good, that she had found another place to belong.


	4. Second Cup of Coffee

**I forgot to put disclaimers in my earlier chapters, so here's it is. I do not own PLL or any of its characters.**

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Aria rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she poured herself a second cup of coffee. She yawned before bringing the mug to her lips, blaming her exhaustion on the late night before. She smiled wickedly. Yes, that very late night before. Clothed in her pajama bottoms and one of Ezra's Hollis sweatshirts, she settled herself on the couch and waited for his to come back from grabbing breakfast. She had offered to cook, but he insisted getting her her favorite cinnamon bagels from the pastry shop down the block. She sighed. She had a good man.

A knock on the door startled her from her thoughts. Groaning, she got up from her place on the couch and set her coffee on the table in front of her. Had Ezra forgotten his key? Opening the door, what awaited her was not the sight of Ezra with a brown paper bag full of bagels. Rather, an elderly women with white-blue hair streaked with grey, and a sunny yellow dress with printed flowers stood on the other side of the door.

"Hi," she said, confused as to who the woman could be.

"Good morning," responded the lady. She looked at Aria in her pajamas and with her hair uncombed, knotted and tangled from the evening's activities the night before. The woman was silent. "Can I help you?" asked Aria, after a moment's pause.

"Is Ezra here?" asked the woman. "I brought this form him." She gestured to the pie plate in her hands. "It's a thank you for watching my apartment when I went to go visit my son last week."

"I'm sorry," responded Aria. "He went out to get breakfast. He'll be back in a little while." She held out her hands. "I'll be sure to make sure he gets it Mrs…" she paused waiting for a response.

"Goldstein," supplied the woman.

"Mrs. Goldstein," finished Aria. She took the pie plate from the woman and set it on the counter before going back to the door. Mrs. Goldstein was still there. "Would you like to come in?"

"That's okay. I should go." The woman made no move to leave. "What's your name, dear?"

"Aria."

"Such a pretty name. And such a fine-looking man Ezra is too. Worthwhile for any woman to catch."

Aria half-smiled, "Yes, it is. Too bad he's already caught."

"Is he your…boyfriend?" asked Mrs. Goldstein innocently, although there was a steely look in her eye. Aria had a feeling that her overnight attire didn't help any.

"Actually," responded Aria sweetly. "He's my husband. I hope you have a good day, Mrs. Goldstein." She smiled before shutting the apartment door.

She had just settled back onto the couch to nurse her cup of lukewarm coffee when there was another knock on the door. "Not again," mumbled Aria as she got up from her place on the sofa. She opened the door, an annoyed look on her face.

"Okay," said Ezra as he stood on the other side of the door. "You win. Next time I won't go to the bakery for breakfast."

"Sorry," said Aria as she tiptoed to give him a kiss. "Mrs. Goldstein was just in here asking all sorts of questions."

"Oh," said Ezra as he placed the brown paper bag on the table. "I passed her on my way up the stairs. She was murmuring something about husband and wife. What did she want?"

"To give you that," said Aria, pointing to the pie on the counter. "She said it was for watching her apartment last week. Who does that at eight o'clock in the morning?"

"Apparently one very nosy neighbor," answered Ezra as he placed a bagel in the toaster. "She probably had seen that you had been staying here for a few days and wanted to know who you were. I bet she waited until I was gone to come over."

"I guess so," responded Aria as she took a bite of an untoasted bagel. "What were you doing knocking on the door, though?"

"I forgot my keys," shrugged Ezra sheepishly.

"Good thing I was around then," said Aria huskily.

"Good thing," agreed Ezra as Aria placed the bagel she was eating back on the table. He heard the toaster go off behind him. He ignored it. "I see you didn't make the bed."

"No," said Aria, closing the distance between them and placing her hands on his chest. "I didn't. I thought we might have better uses for it than making it." She leaned up for a kiss.

"Good thinking, Mrs. Fitz," he responded, leaning down to kiss her. "Why don't we take this somewhere else and forget breakfast for a while?"

"Good thinking," responded Aria breathlessly while she took off his t-shirt and he worked on her sweatshirt. It was the last thing either of them said for the rest of the morning.


	5. May There Only Regret Be

**This is a character of my own invention. I hope you enjoy. As always please review! I do not PLL or any of its characters.**

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Cynthia Goldstein quietly closed her apartment door before going and sitting in her chair by the window. It was a small apartment, but there was little she had cared to save over the years. There were pictures and photo albums of the children, a box of kosher recipes that had been passed down through David's family, some of David's clothing, a few of her favorite books, quilts that she had made to pass the time, doilies that had been purchased years ago, odds and ends. It was all that remained of her life now. After almost sixty years of marriage, of having a husband to sit beside her, she was alone.

She had left the house she had shared with him, not out of a desire to disrespect his memory, but out of a need to leave the rooms that still contained his presence, and the hallways where she could still hear his footsteps, and most off she needed to leave behind the pillows that still smelled like him. She had given that sunny little home to her daughter, Rebekah, who had a husband and a daughter of her own. Rebekah had always loved that house. So it had been passed on. One day the box of recipes, the quilts, the photo albums, and even the doilies would be passed on too.

Cynthia felt sadness as she thought of her youngest child. They had always been at odds, the younger generation and the older one could not bridge that gap between them. There were too many differences, too much hurt and misunderstanding. Her daughter never understood her past, and perhaps she had put too much stock in her daughter's future. So when her husband died, she had moved into this apartment building. It was inexpensive and out of her daughter's way, but it was also close enough quarters to other people that her son was reassured that there would be help if something ever happened to her.

Cynthia thought back to her own past, a past, it seemed that had much in common with the young lady next door. Aria she said her name was. Aria Fitz. She was young. Very young. She was about the same age as Cynthia when Cynthia had eloped. It was 1962, and Cynthia had been raised as a staunch Catholic by a conservative family. But she had fallen in love with David Goldstein and married him, much to her parents' dismay. He was Jewish and she was not. She had been nineteen years old.

Cynthia hadn't regretted her decision to get married, not one moment. Not even now when she was sitting in her apartment alone, closed off from the world around her. She wondered about Aria, and wondered if she would have regrets. She knew far more of Aria's story than she would let on. The walls were thin and news traveled fast. She had heard of the crying, the outright sobs, the arguing, the worry. She had seen Aria come and go out of Ezra's apartment for months now. But then the day came when she brought bags with her and a touch of heaviness in her heart.

That had been three days ago. And for the first time in three days Ezra had left his home, alone. She saw her opportunity to talk to the young lady and went for it. Married. She and Ezra were married. They must have eloped. Just like she and David did. Cynthia sighed as she thought of days gone past and decisions that could not be unmade. Rebekah had not married for love, but had married the man she thought her family would approve of most. That was where the troubles with her daughter began, and they seem to have never ended.

Cynthia said a prayer for the young couple, Aria and Ezra, in Hebrew, a traditional prayer of thanksgiving, blessing and hope, and when had finished her recitation, she crossed herself in the traditional Catholic manner. May everything they dream for become reality. May their only regret be that they hadn't met sooner.


	6. Daddy's Little Girl

It had been exactly one week since Aria had dropped the bombshell on her parents. Then she had left, and she hadn't looked back. She hadn't left Ezra's apartment, their apartment, at any time during those seven days. She had lain around in her pajamas and welcomed her new life with zest, but she had also mourned the loss of her old one. But today, she knew that she couldn't put it off any longer. There were things that had to be done. The first of which was going to her house and packing up her old room.

She sat on her old bed and looked at the books on the shelf, the papers on the desk, her backpack in her closet. She had already packed up her clothes and the things Ezra had given her. She couldn't decide what else she wanted to pack, what else she considered hers.

"I thought you might come by," said a voice from the doorway. Aria's head immediately shot up and her muscles tensed as she saw who was addressing her.

"I thought you wouldn't be here today," she responded. "Are you talking to me because you want to talk me out of what I've done or convince me I've made a colossal mistake?"

"Aria," Byron sighed. "You know how much I love you, right?" He was quiet for a moment as she looked away. "Take whatever you want," he told her as he closed the distance between them. "But don't forget this." He placed something on the nightstand beside her. He waited for a moment to see if she would make eye contact with him. When she didn't he walked out of the room and back towards the hallway. "Aria," he said finally looking back at her, "you'll always be my little girl."

Aria said nothing. She just stared at the view out the window. When she finally looked at the nightstand, her father had been gone for a full five minutes. She put the object in her hand as tears welled in her eyes. Her dad had given her her car keys.

Later that night as Ella and Byron were getting for bed, Ella asked him from the bathroom. "How did it go today, with Aria?"

"How did you know?" Byron responded as he pulled down the sheets from their bed.

"Aria's car wasn't in the driveway when I came home." She came out of the bathroom, brushing her hair as she moved toward the bed, "and Mike told me." She raised a questioning eyebrow.

Byron sighed as he adjusted the pillows on his side of the bed. "I thought if I couldn't do anything else. I could at least do that."

Ella put her hair brush down on the dresser and walked over to her side of the bed. "You know what she wants. Why don't you just give it to her?"

"Because I can't. I just can't, Ella. After everything they did behind our backs. No." He got into bed and picked up a book on the nightstand.

Ella pursued her lips. She was silent for the moment it took her to get into bed and get the book from her nightstand. "Was Ezra with her?" she asked quietly.

Byron kept as his eyes on the page of his book as he responded, "Nope."

"Do you know why she didn't bring him? Because he would have come with her in a heartbeat."

"I have a feeling that you do," sighed Byron.

"It's because of us. Because of this," she gestured to the space between them. "He's our son-in-law now."

"Doesn't it bother you that our son-in-law isn't actually young enough to be our son?"

"Of course it bothers me," exclaimed Ella. "But it bothers me more that we are being cut off from our daughter's life."

"She knew what she did when she did it," said Byron, anger rising. "She's eighteen years old and he's what twenty-four? Twenty-five? They're both old enough to know that they're consequences have actions."

"What about us, Bryon?" said Ella, temper flaring. "What about what happened twenty years ago?"

"That has nothing to do with this," he responded shortly.

"It has everything to do with this. This needs to be fixed, Bryon. It needs to be fixed now," she finished.

"What's done is done," he ended. They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the night. Aria would always be a little girl in his eyes, his little girl, but that didn't change the fact that she had done what she had done.


	7. How Old Are You?

Ezra heard the knock on the apartment door. It was abrupt and unexpected, the sound of knuckles as they rapped on solid wood. Curious, he set his book down and opened the door. The sight that greeted him was one he hadn't been expected.

"Ella," he said the surprise evident in his voice. He cleared his throat. "Please come in," he gestured to the apartment's living area.

She walked in the door and hesitated, "Where can I put this?" she asked looking down at the foil pan wrapped pan in her hands.

"Oh, sorry about that here," he grabbed the pan from her and set it on the counter.

"Please, sit," he said. "Would you like water or tea?"

"No thank you," responded Ella as she carefully sat down in the apartment's one armchair.

"So," began Ezra questioningly sitting on the sofa next to her.

"So," repeated Ella. "Where's Aria?"

"She's out with Spencer and Hanna and Emily. They were going to meet at the Grille for dinner. I expect they have a lot of catching up to do."

"I'm sure," responded Ella. "I'm sure they'll want to hear Aria tell them that she's married now." Ezra looked back uncomfortably, his hands tucked into his sweater. A part of him was glad that he and Aria decided to make the bed this morning. Another part of him wished that Aria was here with him so he wouldn't have to face Ella alone. He watched as comprehension dawned on Ella's face and she raised an eyebrow. "Unless they already know that she's married."

"They were our witnesses," he responded quietly.

"How old are you Ezra?" asked Ella abruptly. "Twenty-three? Twenty-four?"

"Twenty-five," he answered. He looked at the poster on the wall beside her head. He didn't dare look into her eyes.

"Seven years."

"Excuse me?" questioned Ezra.

"The age difference between you and Aria. It's seven years. I'm not even old enough to your mother."

"But you are old enough to be my mother-in-law," returned Ezra.

"And your colleague," she shot back at him. She was silent before she spoke again. "Is this how's it's going to be from now on?"

"You and I used to be friends…" he faltered. What did he call her? Mrs. Montgomery? Ella? Mom?

Sensing his dilemma she replied, "Ella just call me Ella."

He sighed, "Calling you Ella isn't going to change what happened."

She shook her head. "You're right, we used to be friends, but now we're family."

"That's our brave new world," he responded.

She stood up from her seat and he followed suit. "I guess I'll see you at the teacher inservice session in a couple of weeks," she said when she reached the door.

Before she could leave Ezra stopped her. He put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him. "Ella. Why did you really come over?"

She took a deep breath and then replied. "It's a pan of lasagna." She gestured to the container on the counter. "I just wanted to make sure that you and Aria were okay." She walked out the door. He watched her go.

"We love each other," he called to her down the hallway.

She turned around for a moment. "I know," she responded sadly. She turned back around and went down the stairs, leaving a dumbstruck Ezra leaning on his door frame.


	8. Are you sure?

Flashback

"Aria, are you sure you want to do this?"

Aria's head snapped towards the speaker. "Spence, I know you're worried about me, but of course I want to do this." She continued to fiddle with the piece of jewelry in her hands. Spencer, Hanna, and Aria were all in Emily's room, lounging on the bed, absorbing the bombshell.

"But so soon," exclaimed Emily. "You could break the news to your parents slowly. Tell them you're dating. But an engagement? We only graduated from high school yesterday." She hugged her pillow closer to her body.

"Well, I think it's great," answered Hanna. "I mean they love each other. They're going to end up together no matter what. This way Aria's parents can't object to them having sex." She flicked a strand of hair eyes and surveyed the faces of her friends.

"Hannah!" exclaimed Spencer.

"What?" snapped Hanna. "If it's what they want, it's what they want. We should just let it be."

"But what's everyone else going to say? He was our _English teacher_. For two years," Spencer shot back. "Everyone is going to know something happened while he was her teacher."

"Is there a way around that?" asked Emily. "A loophole, anything?"

"I don't think there's exactly a handbook that tells you how to explain to your parents that you and your teacher have feelings for each other," responded Spencer.

"Look. It's what they want," argued Hanna. "Just leave it alone. We need to be happy for Aria now. She needs her friends. She going to get enough of this at home." When she was meant with silence, she shrugged. "Well it's the truth."

Aria, who had been sitting quietly against the headboard, her engagement ring in her hand and her mind far away, suddenly snapped back to reality. She sat up straighter, put her ring on, and looked at her friends. "I'm doing this. Ezra and I have already talked about it. We're going to get married in a in a week. But we're not going to tell my parents until the end of the summer. That way, it'll look like we started dating when I graduated and suddenly we spontaneously decided to get married. Then when August rolls around, we'll tell my parents we eloped and that'll be it."

"Then why not wait until the end of the summer to actually get married? Why the rush?" Emily looked at her friend carefully. "Is this the best way to start a marriage to begin with a lie?"

"What about college?" added Spencer.

"Oh my gosh this makes perfect sense," gushed Hanna. "They'll get married and then tell her parents they're seeing each other, and then if her parents threaten to take him to the police, they tell them they're married and then they can't do anything. Am I right?"

Aria smiled. "That's the plan. But also, that way I get a few last days at home with my family. I'll have time to make some memories to take with me."

"And college?" repeated Spencer pointedly.

"I applied to Hollis for the fall semester," she responded. "Ezra offered to move with me wherever I wanted to go, but I want to stick around here for a little while. Besides, I don't want him to leave his job." She paused. "I know what I want. I want Ezra, so I'm going to do this."

Emily gave her a small smile. "As long as we're allowed to be your bridesmaids."

"Guys," said Aria expressively. "We're eloping."

"So," started Spencer, "you'll still need witnesses."

"Besides," finished Hanna, "Someone will need to be there to catch the bouquet."

Aria looked at each of her friends carefully responding. "Then we'll need to come up with a killer cover story." They all laughed.

Sometime later, after some of the novelty of Aria's engagement had worn off, Emily said, "I think my mom ordered us some pizza. Why don't we go get it?" They headed down the stairs and into the kitchen enjoying the last few moments of girlhood and youthful expectation.


	9. I'm Not Fine

** Thanks for the reviews. They're wonderful! If you have an idea for a scene you want to read please let me know. I do not own PLL so on and so forth.**

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The sound of the door shutting roused Ezra from his dozing. He suddenly sat up as he blinked the sleep away from his eyes. "Aria?" he asked.

She set her purse and keys quietly on the counter before coming over to where he was on the sofa. "Hey," she said as she gave him a kiss on the forehead. She took her shoes off by the bed and settled next to him on the couch. He pulled her to him, and she snuggled against his warm body, feeling comfort and safety in his arms.

"How did it go tonight with your friends?" he asked her, stroking his hand against her bare arm.

"It was fine," she responded. She sighed and then leaned back into his chest.

"Nothing interesting happened?" he probed.

"No," she said. "Nothing special." She closed her eyes and rubbed the arm that encircled her.

"How was Spencer doing? I know that she's really nervous about attending U Penn in a couple of weeks."

"She was fine," said Aria lazily.

"And Hanna," Ezra continued. "Wasn't she going to California with her boyfriend, what's his name?"

"Hanna was fine too," mumbled Aria. She unconsciously started to twist her wedding ring around her finger, a nervous gesture that Ezra had come to recognize.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine," said Aria. She sighed and sat up. She tugged on his arm. "Let's go to bed."

"As much as I would love to climb into bed with you, we are not leaving this sofa until you tell me what's wrong," Ezra deadpanned.

"Nothing's wrong," exclaimed an exasperated Aria. "Just because I would rather have sex with my husband than talk about what happened with my friends doesn't mean that anything's wrong," she grew quiet. Angry quiet.

"Aria, what happened?" he questioned looking her in the eyes and putting her hands on his shoulders. She avoided his gaze, and he saw the tears that flooded her eyes. "Aria?"

"I just didn't know that it would hurt this much, okay?" she exclaimed, pulling herself free of his light embrace. She became silent.

"What happened tonight?" He pressed her, "tell me."

"I don't want what I felt for a brief moment hurt you. I would never want to do that!" She curled up in a fetal position on the other side of the couch, opposite him.

He came closer to her and lightly stroked her hair. Ezra finally broke the silence. "If you don't tell me then I'll just call Spencer or Hanna or Emily."

She sighed. "It's just…" she broke off. "We weren't the only group at the Grille tonight. Noel Khan and some of his buddies stopped by. When they saw me wearing my wedding ring. Noel said something along the lines of 'I didn't know you had gotten married Aria. When's the baby due?' I wanted to smack him across the face."

"I'd like to smack him across the face myself," muttered Ezra, his anger rising. "What happened next?"

"Spencer beat me to it. She didn't exactly smack him but she said in that superior voice of hers 'Noel just because someone gets married at eighteen doesn't mean their pregnant.' Then she started list famous people who had gotten married before their eighteenth birthdays. Hanna sat there and gave him a death glare while I tried not to cry in front of him. I swear if Emily were more of a violent person, she really would have slapped him across the face." Aria paused and looked at Ezra hesitantly. She saw that his jaw was clenched and his eyes were dark with fury. Within a few moments his jaw had relaxed and he smiled at her.

"Look at me," he said, "look at me." He forced her gaze to meet his. "No matter what anyone else says, we did what was right for us."

"I know," she said in a small voice. She exhaled slowly before saying, "Can we go to bed now."

He kissed the top of her head. "Sure." While she went to get her pajamas out of the dresser drawer, he grabbed the plate on the coffee table and took it to the sink.

"What was that?" asked Aria suddenly her cotton pajamas in her hands.

Ezra sheepishly replied, "Lasagna."

"Did you cook?"

Ezra leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. "Your mom brought it by earlier."

Aria's eyebrows flew to her hairline. "What did she want?"

"To make sure we were okay."

"Are you sure that's all she wanted?"

He nodded his head. "She seemed pretty upset when she came over here. I think something's bothering her, and I don't think it's the fact we eloped." He paused for a moment. "She was torn about something."

"Are you sure my dad didn't send her over here to talk me into moving home? She wasn't bribing us with homemade food was she?"

Ezra crossed into the bedroom area until he stood in front of Aria. "Something's bothering her, and it's not us. I'm not even sure your father knew she was here." Aria bit her bottom lip, processing what she had heard. "Why don't we go to bed," he suggested gently. "Don't worry about anything else. Please."

She heard the pleading in his voice and answered, "Sure" she gave him a peck on the lips before going into the bathroom.

He hung his head in relief before going to the bed and putting down the covers and turning off the lights. When Aria joined him ten minutes later, she curled up tightly against his body and sought the warmth of his embrace. When he felt dampness on his shirt hours later, Ezra knew that his words had not soothed her and was upset at himself for causing her tears.


End file.
